Travel Smart, Gut Safe: A pharmacist's guide to diarrhea prevention and treatment for travellers

Travellers’ diarrhea (TD) is one of the most common travel-related illnesses and with such a large proportion of travellers at risk, pharmacists are ideally positioned to provide them with strategies to both prevent TD and to manage this infection. This lesson is designed to provide pharmacists with a update on TD key points and strategies to support travellers.

Course author: Michael Boivin, Bsc, Phm, RPH, CDE

Accredited for 1.25 CEUs by the Canadian Council on Continuing Education in Pharmacy; CCCEP #1329-2026-4125-I-P

Learning objectives:
 

Upon successful completion of this continuing education lesson, participants should  be better able to:

1. Identify people at increased risk for diarrhea during travel and its long-term complications.
2. Apply current guideline recommendations for the prevention and self-treatment of diarrhea during travel, including non-antibiotic options.
3. Evaluate the risk-benefit of antibiotic use in management of diarrhea during travel, considering antimicrobial resistance and ESBL colonization risks.
4. Implement pre-travel counselling strategies to educate patients on hygiene measures, prophylaxis options, and severity-based self-treatment approaches.

This learning activity is supported by educational funding from Valneva Canada Inc.